


The Unexpected

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2016 [37]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, epilogue compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 11:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7359625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dudley Dursley's daughter has magic, and life takes an unexpected turn in the Potter-Weasley household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Harry Potter, Petunia + Vernon + Dudley Dursley, Dudley has magical offspring?! Vernon is convinced it's all Petunia's fault."

"Spit it out, boy!" Vernon doesn't look up from his newspaper.  
  
Ivy cringes against Dudley's side. He puts an arm around her shoulders protectively. He's never noticed how terrifying his father's voice can be, when the anger is directed at him. He sends a silent apology to Harry, wherever he is.  
  
"Mum, Dad," Dudley said, "Ivy has m-magic."  
  
" _What?_ " Vernon roars.  
  
Ivy bursts into tears.  
  
"Shut up!" Vernon is out his chair and across the room in surprisingly few strides. "How dare you use that word in this house!"  
  
"But it's true," Dudley protests.  
  
Vernon stares down at Ivy like she's an insect and he's considering squashing her beneath his shoe. "Was it Melissa's fault? Is she a liar? No." He spins on his wife. "This is your fault."  
  
Petunia presses her lips into a thin line. "Get out," she says. Those two words sound exactly like Melissa said them.  
  
"Mum," Dudley tries, but she steps around Vernon and toward him, and he's forced to back away till he hits the door, Ivy still sobbing and clinging to him.  
  
"Get out of this house," Petunia says, "and never come back." And then lower, she says, "Go to London. To the Leaky Cauldron. It's a pub." She describes its location quickly. "It's the entrance to the magical world. Someone there can help you. You won't be able to see it, but Ivy will."  
  
"Mum?"  
  
"I love you, Dudders. Now go." Petunia steps back, shouts one more time for them to get out of her sight, and Dudley scoops up Ivy and runs.  
  
He buckles her into the car with shaking hands and drives down to London without stopping once. Ivy cries herself to sleep in the back seat and is fussy when he wakes her, but he follows his mother's directions as best as he can. He cannot find this magical pub, paces back and forth on the pavement, and then Ivy says,  
  
"Daddy, can we go in there?"  
  
And somehow, a building materializes between two shops were there was none, and there's a creaking sign swinging above the door, with a picture of a cauldron, and for the first time since Melissa walked out, Dudley feels hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Harry Potter, Harry Potter + Dudley Dursley, getting reacquainted as adults."
> 
> Harry sees someone he never expected in Diagon Alley.

"But Daddy," James says, "why can't I have a racing broom like Cousin Molly?"  
  
Harry sighs patiently. "How old is Cousin Molly?"  
  
"'Leven."  
  
"And how old are you?"  
  
"Five." James pouts. He inherited his pout from Ginny, and Harry isn't quite immune to it yet.  
  
"When did Mummy say you could have your first racing broom?"  
  
"When I turn 'leven."  
  
"And no sooner." Harry holds out his hand. "Now come on, how about some ice cream?"  
  
James eyes Harry's hand like he's genuinely contemplating refusing ice cream, and then a woman says,  
  
"Harry Potter! A word, if you please!"  
  
Heads turn at Harry's name.  
  
He ducks instinctively, ruffles his fringe, but it's too late, they all recognize him, even with his scar covered. He scans the crowd, and there, in the doorway of the Leaky Cauldron, looking like Morticia Addams bathed in emeralds, is Pansy Parkinson.  
  
And beside her is -  
  
"Bloody hell," Harry says.  
  
James crows. "Daddy said a bad word!"  
  
"Dudley?" Harry asks, starting toward Pansy with shaky legs.  
  
There's a little girl pressed up against Dudley's side. She has red hair, just like Lily Evans, and she has Dudley's blue eyes.  
  
"Harry," Dudley said, "my little girl, Ivy. She - she's got m-m-magic."  
  
Harry kneels down so he's eye-level with the little girl. She's pale and her eyes are puffy and red. She's been crying.  
  
"Hello," he says. "I'm Harry, your dad's cousin. You can call me Uncle Harry, if you like. What's your name?"  
  
"Ivy." Her voice is very soft.  
  
"Ivy, this is my son, James. He's your cousin." Harry nudges James forward.  
  
James peers at her, taking in her blue denim overalls and her pink trainers. "Are you a muggle?"  
  
"No," Harry says, "she's a witch, just like Mum."  
  
"Witches are scary," Ivy says.  
  
Pansy makes an affronted sound.  
  
"Not all of them, I promise," Harry says. He straightens up. "Where's her mother?" he asks in a low voice.  
  
At the way Dudley's expression crumbles, Harry fears the worst. Did Ivy kill her mother with accidental magic?  
  
"She's - gone." Dudley chokes on the last word. "Couldn't handle all Ivy was doing."  
  
That's almost worst than her being dead.  
  
"Well," Harry says, "we can handle magic just fine, can't we, Jamie?"  
  
James nods. He smiles at Ivy. "You ever played Gobstones?"  
  
Ivy shakes her head, ducking back behind her father shyly.  
  
Harry offers a hand, like Draco Malfoy did to him years ago. "Come along, Dudley, and welcome to Diagon Alley."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley & Dudley Dursley/Pansy Parkinson, "We've been invited to your cousin's wedding," Ginny tells him gleefully, dropping the ornate envelope in his lap."

"We've been invited to your cousin's wedding," Ginny tells Harry gleefully, dropping the ornate envelope in his lap.   
  
Harry blinks and sets his teacup aside, letting it hover midair as he pushes the Daily Prophet aside. He picks up the envelope - he can't quite puzzle out the wax seal on the flap - and opens it. "Dudley's finally gone and done it, eh? Wonder who the lucky woman -"  
  
 _Peaseblossom and Peony Parkinson are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Pansy, to Dudley Dursley, son of Vernon Dursley and Petunia Evans, who will be married on -_  
  
"Bloody hell!" Harry cries.  
  
The teacup explodes.  
  
James claps his hands and cheers. "Yay! Rain!"  
  
Ginny flicks her wand absently and James is dry again.  
  
Harry shakes the invitation at her. "Did you know about this?"  
  
"Of course I did."  
  
"But you and Pansy don't even like each other!"  
  
"Harry, darling," Ginny coos with dangerous sweetness, "Pansy's going to be part of the family now."  
  
Harry has visions of Dudley and Ivy living in some dark, dank dungeon like Malfoy Manor, covered head to toe in Slytherin green. Ivy, who inherited her Great-Aunt Lily's red hair, would actually look pretty all right in green.  
  
Harry shakes his head to clear it. "But - but Pansy was just bossing Dudley around about how to deal with Ivy because all Pansy knows how to do is boss people around."  
  
"Apparently your cousin likes them bossy," Ginny says, and Harry cringes at all of the implications that single sentence involves.  
  
He stares at the invitation again. "I take it we're going?"  
  
"Of course we're going," Ginny says. "And I already have the perfect gift picked out." She spins on her heel and saunters into the kitchen.  
  
Harry calls after her, "Does it explode? I hope for Dudley's sake it doesn't. But I sort of hope for Pansy's sake it does."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, Any, teleporting is a very convenient way of traveling."
> 
> A Potter-Dursley holiday visit.

Teleporting is a very convenient way of traveling,” Dudley says as Harry, Ginny, and James appear on the doorstep.  
  
Ivy tugs on her father’s hand. “Daddy, it’s not teleporting. It’s called a _portkey_.”  
  
Dudley hides a smile behind a cough, then adopts a suitably apologetic expression. “Yes, Ivy. Of course. Daddy’s such a silly muggle, isn’t he?”  
  
“It’s all right.” Ivy stretches up on her tip-toes and kisses him on the cheek. “Mummy’s teaching you everything you need to know, isn’t she?”’  
  
“Yes, she is.”  
  
Pansy appears in the doorway, tall and imperious in fine black robes.  
  
Harry will always be surprised at how things have turned out for his cousin. His first wife left him when his daughter turned out magical. His second wife happened upon him when he was hanging around the Leaky Cauldron, desperate to find a way in so he could get in contact with Harry and get help for his little girl.  
  
Pansy Parkinson hadn’t deigned to change her name or much of anything in her life, simply moved Dudley and Ivy into her palatial home somewhere wizarding and obscure off of Corfu, and suddenly Harry and Pansy were family.  
  
If Pansy didn’t adore Ivy as much as Dudley did, Harry might have been worried.  
  
But Ivy is skipping toward Ginny for hugs and asking if James wants a go on her new broom, and Pansy is beckoning them inside for tea (served by a house elf, something Hermione still hasn’t gotten over), and this family vacation is off to a good start after all.


End file.
